. >> did you see this, obama is flexible on highest tax rates. >> administration official. white house officials later signaled that. he didn't signal it in anything he said. >> i spoke to a couple who were at the meeting yesterday, some of the executives, who felt, and this is like the implied feeling that he was now more willing to deal on the highest rate. >> did you hear anything about spending cuts or entitlement reform? >> two conversations are taking place. one if the public trying to get them behind you. the other is whether you're actually saying to the people you're negotiating with. and when you saw the signal, it was like, okay, maybe they'll get to that, i don't know, 37% or 500,000 or something. what we had been talking about two weeks ago. maybe that's where they're headed. stocks did gain ground on optimism around the idea that we could reach some sort of a deal to overt the fiscal cliff. the dow closing more than 100 points higher after being down by more than that during the session. a swing like that hasn't happened since october 2011. u.s. equity futures